Apparatus for photographic reproduction



Sept. 21, 1937. H. H. SULLIVAN APPARATUS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTION Filed June 1, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTbR 77 17. Sullivan g TTORNE Y Sept. 21, 1937. H. H. SULLIVAN 2,093,735

APPARATUS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTION Filed June 1, 1934 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR H H. Sullivan A TOR/VEY Sept. 21, 1937. H. H. SULLIVAN APPARATUE FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTION Filed June 1, 1934 I5 Sheets-Sheet 3 lIllllllllllllllillmlllllfllflll5;

TORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE -APPARATUS FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRO- DUCT'ION' Harry H. Sullivan, Rochester, N. Y., asslgnor to Paragon Revolute Corporation,

Rochester,

N. Y., a, corporation of New York Application June 1, 1934, Serial No. 728,528

6 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of photographic reproduction and to a photographic printing machine for performing the same.

At the present time when it is desired to ink a pencil drawing or when a tracing becomes worn or there is need for duplicate tracings, the practice is for a draftsman to draw in the inked lines. This method is not only slow and expensive but entails checking to insure that there have been no mistakes made in copying. In'accordance with the present invention, it is proposed to photographically reproduce such pencil drawings, tracings and the like on tracing cloth or other like material having a coating thereon which is highly sensitized to light.

The'main feature of the invention relates to a novel photograph printing method by which a which-may be easily adjusted to reproduce orig-' inals such as tracings and the like of varying character and contrast.

These and other features of the invention will appear from the detailed description and claims when taken with the drawings in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a photographic printing machine according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the left end of the machine as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical section thereof taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. l, a portionof the section being broken away; Figs. 4 and 5 are also vertical sections taken substantially on the lines 4-4 and 55 looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 6 is a detail view of a fragment of a brush which is used in stripping the original sheet and the exposed photographic sheet from the cylinder; Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 1-1 of Fig. 3 illustrating a portion of the driving arrangement for the cylinder; and Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional view taken substan- 50 tially on the line 8-8 of Fig. 3 indicating the manner in which the speed of rotation of the cylinder is changed.

,The photographic printing or reproducing machine of the present invention is primarily intended for use in a dark room. Referring especially to Fig. 1, there is illustrated a preferred form of the machine having a frame including the uprights 5 and 6, cross bars I, 8, and 9 and suitable diagonal braces to and H.' Near the top of the frame, and at a convenient height for 5 the operator, there is provided a work table T and a rectangular hood [2 formed of sheet metal having a work receiving opening adjacent the table, the ends of the hood being respectively connected by light-tight joints to the upper portions of the uprights 5 and 6. As shown in Fig. 3, the hood is formed of a top section l3, a rear section I4 and a bottom section IS, the front of the hood being open except for the top strip l6 and the bottom strip I! which define the work receiving opening. There is provided within the hood l2 and extending lengthwise thereof, spaced rotatable parallel rolls 23, 24, 25, and 26 which are suitably mounted at their ends. A plurality of continuous belts 27 pass around these rolls and alsopartially encircle a hollow transparent cylinder 28 preferably formed of transparent glass. As herein disclosed, the rolls 23, 24 and 26 are journaled at their ends in the uprights 5 and 5, while the roll 25 is mounted at its respective ends on bell crank levers 29 pivoted at 30 on the respective uprights 5 and 6. The arms 3! of these levers are held under tension by coil springs 32, each having one end fastened to a mentioned arm and its other end attached to a stationary part of the frame so that the roll 25 maintains the belts 21 taut at all times.

A rectangular lamp housing 23 having its respective ends secured in light-tight engagement with the upper portions of the'uprights 5 and 6 extends through the transparent cylinder 28. Onthe front wall of the lamphousing, there is detachably supported in brackets 53, a mercury arc lamp L which is slightly shorter than the housing 33. These brackets hold the lamp with its long axis inclined to the horizontal, and also serve as terminals for connecting its electrodes to a source (not shown) of electric lighting current. The rear wall of the lamp housing is provided with anexposure aperture of a length substantially equal to that of the mercury lamp which aperture is inclined with respect to the horizontal as best indicated in Fig. 5 in order to be in substantial alinement with this lamp. This aperture is bounded at its lower edge by an angle bar ,34 attached to the housing and having one flange thereof projecting approximately to the inner surface of the transparent cylinder. At the upper edge of this aperture, there is mounted for limited vertical adjustment an angle bar 35, which also has one of its flanges extending approximately to the inner surface of the transparent cylinder and which has its other flange attached to the housing by guide screws 36 passing through vertical slots in this flange and threaded into the rear wall of the housing. It will be understood that the angle bar is vertically adjustable by means of links 31 which pass through slotted guides 38 in the ends of the housing, the upper end of each link 31 being pivotally connected to an arm 39 in turn eccentrically pivoted at 46 on a knurled hand disk 4|. "One of these disks is mounted on each end of a horizontal shaft 42 which is rotatably mounted in the uprights 5 and 6 at each end of the hood. In the face of each disk adjacent its related upright, there are provided a series of notches lla to receive a ball 43 supported by a spring 44 on the respective uprights. The engagement of these balls with the mentioned notches, tends to retain the disks in the position to which they have been manually adjusted.

The upper portion of the uprights 5 and 6 have openings therein leading to the interior of the lamp housing, these openings being closed by the covers t8 and I9. The cover 19 also serves as a shield for a nozzle 20 which communicates through a pipe 2! with a suitable blower 22a, driven in any well-known manner such as by an electrical motor (not shown), to supply a stream of cooling air to the interior of the housing. The

cover l8 as indicated in the upper left hand corner of Fig. 1 has a light -trapped outlet 22 through which the stream of air flowing through the hood from thenozzle 28 and blower 22a escapes. It will be understood that this stream of air is necessary in order to maintain the mercury arc lamp at suitable operating temperatures.

Undercertain conditions of operation of the machine, it is desirable to vary the character of light passing through the aperture in the lamp housing. For this purpose there is provided a light filter F substantial coextensive with theaperture and formed of a strip of color screen reinforced by a metal border. This filter is pivotally mounted at its ends on the uprights 5 and 6 at points 45, for movement to the position shown, so that no light from the lamp 23 can pass through the aperture except through the filter. In order to swing this filter away from the aperture, there is pivotally connected to the lower edge of its metal border, links 41. Each of these linksis pivoted at 48 to one arm of a bell crank lever 56 secured to the shaft 49. The other arm 50a of each bell crank lever serves as a handle by which these levers can be moved from the. position shown in Fig. 3 as limited by the engagement of stop 5! with an extension of the upright, to the position where this stop engages the lug 52 on the mentioned extension.

It has been mentioned that the cylinder 28 is driven by a plurality of belts passing around the rolls 23, 24, 25, and 26, the power for driving these belts being applied through roll 26 from the motor 54. A pulley 55 on the shaft of this motor drives a belt 56 engaging the periphery of the pulley 51. This pulley is secured to a shaft 58 suitably journaled on the upright 5 and normally urged to the right (as shown in Fig. 3) by a coil spring 56 having one end engaging a portion of the upright and its other end engaging a sleeve 60 secured to the shaft 58. The right hand face of pulley 51, as shown in the mentioned figure, engages the periphery of a friction roller 61 secured to the rotatable, vertical shaft 62, which roller and its shaft are adjustable vertically as will be described. The roller 6| at its periphery also engages the face of a disk 63 which is spaced from the disk 51 and which is secured to the horizontal shaft 64. This shaft is mounted in suitable bearings in the frame and is provided at its free end with a worm 65. The worm 65 cooperates with a worm gear 66 attached to a shaft 61 in common with the sprocket 68 which shaft is suitably journaled in the frame. This sprocket drives a chain 69 serving to drive the sprocket 18 mounted on the shaft 1|. Shaft 1| which is supported on the upright 5, is provided with a gear 12 meshing with a second gear 13 mounted on the shaft 14 of the roll 26. The chain 69 is maintained taut by an idler sprocket 15 mounted on an arm 16 in turn pivoted at 11, the arm 16 having a set screw 18 to engage a lug 19 on the frame so that the tension of the chain can be adjusted at will. In order to adjust the speed of the cylinder without disturbing the speed of the motor, the roller 6| is employed as a part of a frictional speed control unit. This roller as best shown in Fig. 8 has its shaft 62 journaled in a bifurcated support which is slidably mounted on the rod 82. The support has connected thereto at 83, a link 84 which is pivoted at 65 on one end of an arm 86 adapted to rock about the pivot 81 as an axis. The other end of the arm 86 has connected thereto at 88, a link 89 pivotally connected at 98 to an arm 9| projecting from a sector rack 92, which is pivoted at 83 on the'frame. ion 94 mounted on the shaft 95 of a hand wheel 96, the shaft being suitably journaled in the frame. A set screw 91having a knurled hand grip, locks the hand wheel in the position to which it has been adjusted. If desired, the exposed surface of the hand wheel 96 may be graduated in units of exposure time, which graduations are successively brought into registry with the stationary index llll as the hand wheel is rotated.

During the operation of the machine, the mercury arc lamp L is lighted in the well-known manner to furnish a light source substantially co-extensive in length with the exposure aperture in the lamp housing as shown in Fig. 3. This exposure aperture as herein illustrated, is covered by the color screen or filter F to vary the characte'r'of light transmitted to the exposure aperture. At this time the motor 54 is started to drive the belts 21 and the glass cylinder" in the direction indicated by the arrows. 4 This drive is rotate the glass cylinder 28.

With the lamp lighted and the cylinder rotating, a suitable original such as a tracing or the like is placed on the table T in superimposed relation to a sheet of sensitized material. The superimposed sheets are then pushed along the table into the front of the hood until they are gripped between the glass cylinder 28 and the belts 21, and are advanced thereby. As the orig- The rack meshes with a pininalsheetandthesensitiaedsheetpassbythe 'WhatIclaimis:

exposureaperturetheimageontheoriginalis v 1? photographed on successive portions;

vofthesensitizedsheetuntilalloftheimageon lower .edge ofthe tray, is provided toseparate the sheets from the cylinder and to guide them totheworkreceivingtrayll.

Inthe eventthat itisdesiredtovarythe width of the aperture in the lamp housing, for.

example, if it is desired to increase the width of'this aperture, one-of the hand disks 4|. is rotated clockwise as shown in Fig. 3. The arms I! which are eccentrically attached to these disks,

are thereby elevated and the links 31, connected tothem,areraisedsothattheanglebarllis elevated with the resultant increase in the width of the aperture. A coimter-clockwise movement of the mentioned disks results in the operation of the arms 3! and links 31 in thereverse direction to force the angle bar 85 toward the angle iron with the consequent decrease in the width of this aperture. It will be understood that the notches in the disks 4| receive the spring pressed balls 43 to hold these disks in the positions to which they'have been moved so that the aperture will be maintained at its width.

In the event that the character of the original is such that the full effect of the light from the lamp 23 is necessary to photograph the original on the sensitized sheet, the color screen or fllter- Fisswungawayfromtheapertureinthelam'p housing. Thisis eflected by swinging either of .the handles Ila in a clockwise direction (see Fig. 3) until the stop ll engages the lugs". By

this swinging movement of the handle,'the links I! are elevated and since they are pivotallyfinnected to the lower edge of thefllter, the'fllter is swung to a substantially horizontal position out oi thepath'oi' light to the aperture.

with originals of different character, it is desirable to have different speeds of exposure, andthisresultisobtainedbyvaryingthespeedat which the original sheet and the sensitized sheet are fed past the aperture in the lamp housing. This change in speed is eifected by loosenin'g'the set screw 81 and then rotating the hand wheel 86. If it is desired to increase the speed of exposure, the hand wheel is rotated counterclockwise (see Fig. 3). Handwheel 06 rotates the pinion 94 in a counterclockwise direction to drive previously described serves to rotate the belts 21 and the cylinder 28 at a faster speed'than prevailed prior to the adjustment. when the desired adjustment has been made the set screw 91 is turned to its locking position and the hand wheel 96 is thus locked in its adjusted position. In the event that it is desired to reduce the speed 'of exposure, the set screw 91 is loosened and the hand wheel is rotated in a clockwise direction with the result that the roller ii is lowered so that it drives disk 83 more slowly.

1. In a device of the class described, a hollow rotatable transparent work support, means for holding an original and a light sensitized sheet on the surface of said support, a' darkcompart- 'ment containing said work support, a lamp housing mounted within said support, said housing being light-tight, except for a narrow elongated exposure aperture therein, said aperture being inclined to the horizontal, and a uniform source of light within said housing, said source being substantially co-extensive with said aperture and having its principal axis generally parallel to the principal axis of said aperture.

2. In a device of the class described, a dark compartment, a hollow transparent cylinder rotatable in said compartment, means for rotating said cylinder, a lamp housing having a narrow elongated exposure aperture therein adjacent said cylinder, said aperture being inclined to the horizontal, and a light source within said hous- 118. said source being substantially co-extensi've with said aperture and having its principal axis generalhr parallel to the principal axis of said aperture and also having a substantially uniform light intensity throughout its length.

3. In a device urns class described, a dark compartment, a hb'llow transparent cylinder rotatable within said compartment, at least one belt engaging a substantial portion of the outer surface of the cylinder for rotating the same and for holding an original sheet and a sensitized sheet in superimposed relation against the outer surface of said cylinder, a lamp housing within said cylinder, said housing being light-tight except for 'a ,narrow elongated exposure aperture therein inclined to the horizontal and located adjacent the inner surface of said cylinder, a source of light within said housing of a length substantially equal to the length of said aperture and of substantially uniform intensity throughout its length, an adjustable shutter for varying the width of said aperture and means for continuously driving said belt at a speed adjustable at will 4:111 a device of the class described, a dark compartment, a hollow transparent cylinder rotatably mounted withinsaid compartment, at

least'one belt engaging a substantial portion of the outer surface of the'cylinder for rotating the same and for holding an original sheet and a sensitized sheet in superimposed relation in contact with the outer surface of the cylinder, a lamp housing within said cylinder, said housing being light-tight except for a narrow inclined exposure aperture-therein, adjacent the inner surface of said cylinder and of a length approximately equal to the length of the cylinder, an

- adjustable shutter for varying the width of said aperture, a.source of light within said housing parallel to said aperture, of a length substantially equal to the length of said aperture and of substantially uniform light intensity throughoutits length, a uniform speed motor, and an adjustable speed transmission through which said motor drives said belt continuously whereby the speed of rotation of-said cylinder can be adjusted at' will.

5. In a device of the class described, a dark compartment, a hollow transparent cylinder rotatably mounted within said compartment, at least one belt engagin a substantial portion of the outer surface of the cylinder for rotating the same and for holding an original sheet and a 76 sensitized sheet in superimposed relation in contact with the outer surface of the cylinder, a lamp housing within said cylinder, said housing being light-tight except for a narrow inclined exposure aperture therein, adjacent the inner surface of said cylinder and of a length approxi mately equal to the length of the cylinder, an adjustable shutter for varying the width of said aperture, a source of light within said housing parallel 'to said aperture, of a length substantially edual to the length of said aperture and of substantially uniform light intensity throughout its length, light-reducing means movable at will into and out of the path of light passing through said aperture, a uniform speed motor, and an adjustable speed transmission through which said motor drives said belt continuously whereby the speed of rotation of said cylinder can be adjusted at will.

20 6. In a device of the class described, a dark being inclined to the horizontal. a source of I light of a length substantially equal to the length of said aperture and'having its principal axis parallel to the principal axis of said aperture, one end of said housing having a light trapped opening therein adjacent one end of said light source and the other end of said housing having a light trapped inlet therein adjacent the otherend of said light source, and means for forcing a current of cooling air through said inlet opening.

HARRY H. SULLIVAN, 

